This study analyses the potential role of video viewing and language aptitude on the learning of L2 vocabulary by young beginner learners who were regularly exposed to L1 subtitled TV series during one academic year. Results are discussed in the light of the mediating role of type of exposure and individual differences in foreign language vocabulary learning.
Individual differences have been shown to influence language development (Skehan, 1989) and vocabulary learning (Dóczi & Kormos, 2016) to a great extent. Among them, language aptitude has been found to be a good L2 proficiency predictor, even if it is said to have a low predictive validity for vocabulary learning (Li, 2016). Moreover, recent research has revealed that video viewing has a beneficial effect for L2 vocabulary acquisition (Peters & Webb, 2018; Rodgers & Webb, 2020). However, the mediating role of language aptitude in the learning of L2 vocabulary through multimodal input by young learners is yet under-researched.
This paper aims at filling the existing gap by exposing Grade 6 beginner EFL learners (N=40) to L1-subtitled TV series for an academic year. Participants belonged to two intact classes, which were randomly allocated to the experimental or control group. Both groups were pre-taught a set of Target Words (TW) and did some vocabulary consolidation activities every week. However, only those in the experimental group additionally watched 24 episodes of a TV series where the TWs appeared. To assess vocabulary development, all learners took a pre- and a post-test at the beginning and the end of each of the three terms of the academic year. Language aptitude was evaluated with the MLAT-EC (Suárez, 2010).
Results show that TV series exposure was beneficial for the learning of the target vocabulary, but only at the end of the academic year, after considerable exposure to audiovisual materials. Language aptitude proved to influence word form learning, but not word meaning. Conclusions are drawn in relation to how video viewing and individual differences can mediate L2 vocabulary learning.
